We Are All Mad Here
by You Dont Have To Be Mad
Summary: I do not own alice in wonderland or any characters involved
1. Chapter 1

Home Strange Home

"I told you. This is clearly the wrong Alice. Honestly Hatter can't you do anything right?"

"Be quiet Mallymkun or you're going back in the tea pot. This is our Alice, I just know it."

She slowly raised her throbbing head off the table and blinked a few times as everything slowly came into focus, the colours were blurred and everything was under a light amber haze of the sun set.

A tall slim man stood on the table; he wore an oversized blazer, made of the deepest purple blazer. His jeans were tight with long black and white stripes making his legs look ever skinnier, and his bright red baseball boots stood out against the grimy white table cloth.

He sat down, cross legged and looked at her.

"Are you quiet all right my beauty?"

His eyes were a hypnotic shade of violet, but one was covered by his long blue and black fringe, on his lap there was an acid green top hat with a pair of brass goggles, that were covered in cogs and bolts and bits of old clock.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" She stammered, trying to hide the fear in her voice

"I knew she wasn't the right Alice, she doesn't ever remember _you_ Hatter" Piped up the dormouse, that's funny thought Alice, whoever heard of a talking dormouse?

"Hatter…oh I understand now"

The pair looked at Alice in anticipation, the mouse scurried up to the top of the hat and playing with a small sword that looked more like a needle.

"I'm dreaming again" the young girl said coming to a conclusion

"Ha! I told you, I told you, I blooming well told you!" jeered the mouse, dancing around on the hat, but her celebration was cut short by Hatter tipping her into a large powder blue tea pot.

"I warned you, any more cheek towards my Alice and it was into the tea pot with you."

A flood of déjà vu washed over the girl, a faint memory in the back of her mind, she couldn't place it but it was there.

"So you don't remember me then?" said Hatter, his voice quiet and full of sadness.

"I…I'm afraid not, no"

"Not even the tiniest glimmer of a memory? Because a tiny seed of thought could one day been a fruitful memory of you feed it enough"

She looked around at her surroundings, and slowly seemed to remember. Like someone flicked a switch in her head, everything came flooding back to her.

The pink and blue mushrooms that towered above them felt like home, the long table that was covered in miss matched crockery felt like she had been eating at it for years. The long green vines that dangled about her head made her feel safe…this was her Wonderland.

"Oh my…Hatter!" She exclaimed as he jumped up onto the table and hugged him tightly, he laughed quietly and murmured into her white blonde curls

"Welcome back, my dearest Alice, things have changed so much since I last saw you. You've become quite a beautiful young lady."

"Why thank you but I get the feeling you brought me here for more that flirting, why did you need me?"

Hatters smile disappeared and his eyes became a dark, stormy blue. He turned away slightly

"Our lovely Red Queen is back"

"Who's the Red Queen?"

He looked around shiftily, as if he was scared. He took her arm and began to lead her away

"We can't talk about this out here, come inside"

He led her into a small, tumble down house in-between a cluster of large mushrooms, the house was warmly lit and as Alice walked in her mind filled with similar sights and smells; the rolls of fabric against the wall that Hatter used to wrap her up in when she went to sleep, the cushions scattered across the floor where they used to sit and drink tea and sing songs. The smell of tea leaves and sugar filled her nostrils and she felt safe, safer than she ever felt at home in London.

"Red has heard of your return, she's not happy about it. She knows you're going to destroy her"

"I'm not destroying anything…anyone, at all"


	2. Chapter 2

"Alice you have to do this! The future of Wonderland depends on you, without you we are nothing!"

"Hatter!" she screamed, at the top of her lungs "I came here when I was a child! I had nothing, my childhood was _nothing_! You know what I went through; the neglect, the abuse! This was my only escape, and when I got home they said I was crazy! They gave me so much medication that made me weak, that meant I couldn't think. I would wake up not knowing my own fucking name!"

The Hatter fell quiet and sat down on the dark wood floor, head in hands

"Alice, stop" he whispered

"I stopped taking them eventually! They made me forget, forget you and everyone who had ever been here! I'm not killing anyone, I've done enough fighting to last me a lifetime; this place has caused me enough trouble.

She collapsed against the table, knees buckled and cheeks flushed. She was beautiful, she was strong, she was _crazy _but _s_he was everything the Hatter wanted. Her wild golden hair was tangled from where she had been running her hands through it, the thick gold ringlets glowing from the candlelight as it fell down to her tiny waist. She was dressed in a light blue vest top, a white belt and a deep blue and white checked skirt; her shoes were high heeled and patent black, she had grown into such a stunning young woman.

He hadn't aged, he was merely 20. She had been a mite of 9 years old the first time they met, small and wide eyed. She had been so skinny, so under-weight her bones stuck out at angles and her cheeks were hollow. She had been an un-loved child; abused and neglected by her cruel mother and alcoholic father. Hatter cared for her as if she was his own, but really he knew as he stayed the same she would age, then he would love her in a way he never had before; and he did. She was 17 now, and was still as pale and fragile as she had been. Her mind had become as weak as her appearance, but her will remained stronger than ever. No one had ever believed her about Wonderland, but she fought for the truth she knew…they thought she had tried to escape from her family struggles by creating a world that she felt safe in.

He paced across the room, as if he was gliding on air and took her hand and rested his forehead against hers and gazed into her eyes, they were a washed out blue colour and they had lost all the sparkle and life of the 9 year old girl he knew before.

"Oh Alice, my dear dearest Alice, time is short, time is a funny, short little thing. It's running out, I tried to stop it but it wouldn't stop running. And that's what you're doing, running, running, running. Running from your fate, your duty, your destiny, I…I love you Alice. I would never let anything, and I mean _anything _happen to you ever, never ever never to you. Your beautiful, you're stronger than you think, you can do this Alice, come with me to meet everyone, Chess, the March Hair, The White Rabbit; you remember them don't you?"

His thumbs were rubbing her cheeks, wiping away her tears which she had tried so hard to hold back. She tried to push him away, but her arms were weak and had no effect. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and held her closer, she breathed in his warm smell of wood smoke and tea, of lamp oil and of old musty fabric.

"Come now, Alice. We must go, people are waiting."

As they walked Hatter remembered Alice during her childhood, the pain she had gone through. Her father was a drunk, a monster…he would beat and abuse Alice and when she came to Wonderland her porcelain skin was mottled with deep, purple and black bruises and the odd scarlet graze across her knees or elbows where she had fallen…or been pushed. She was so small and thin, malnourished and underfed; her hair was this and limp and hung like curtains over her huge azure blue eyes.

Her eyes used to be full of fear, like a baby deer stranded in the middle or a busy road; the slightest thing would cause her to flinch or cover herself in defense.

Her mother never did anything to stop Alice's abuser and made habit of verbally abusing Alice; scum, dirt, worthless…better off dead. These words had stuck with Alice her whole life, and continued into her education.

Alice had been sent to a private class of around fifteen to twenty girls all from rich, spoilt backgrounds, and she was bullied relentlessly for not being clever and used to get into fights with the girls and was known for biting and pulling hair. Her mother eventually began to home school her, with novels and encyclopedias;

"What is the use of a book without pictures?" she used to exclaim, much to her mother's disapproval; a sigh, a shake of the head and a roll of the eyes should have been a sign for Alice to shush but she persisted

"In my world, all books would have pictures in"

"Books do not need pictures Alice" her mother snapped "now go and clear your head; I want you back here in half an hour maximum"

And that was the first time Alice fell down the rabbit hole.


End file.
